Washington Times - Roberts, Alito Leave Imprint on Rulings

By Ben Conery, The Washington Times

During their five-plus years on the bench, the Supreme Court nominees of President George W. Bush have begun making their marks in cases involving gun rights, freedom of speech and campaign finance.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. have settled into roles as mainstays of the high courts conservative wing and frequently find themselves in agreement on legal issues, much to the delight of conservative commentators and observers and the chagrin of their liberal counterparts.

Justices Roberts and Alito favor an incremental approach to the development of the law, said Robert Hume, a political science professor at Fordham University in New York. Roberts and Alito show more deference to precedent than the two archconservatives on the Supreme Court, Justices [Antonin] Scalia and [Clarence] Thomas.

Jordan Sekulow, of the conservative American Center for Law and Justice, was effusive in his praise of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, saying they are exactly the types of justices that his group hoped they would be. He is hopeful that their influence will extend beyond the bench.

I think theyre good examples for younger attorneys, he said of the justices, who were seated within about four months of each other in late 2005 and early 2006. . . .

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